What does it mean when someone says, “We are created for eternity, not for Earth?” I’ve wondered that, too. We often read or hear statements like that and tuck it away without fully understanding what it means.

Pretend you have kids (maybe you do), but suddenly you have no way of communicating with them verbally or otherwise. If they only have your life as an example, what would they deduce it takes to be happy? The right career, house, weekend activities, behavior, grades, youth sport leagues, clothes, food, friends, entertainment, church? Would they look at your life and realize like the Apostle Paul that godliness with contentment is itself great? We don’t all have kids, but we're all sending God a message about what we think it takes to be happy. Here’s some bad advice: tell others with your life that He isn’t enough. And now here’s some good advice about how to actually be happy.

Whether you’re married or not, imagine this. You’re looking at the person who decided to give up their heart, some dreams, their body, their years, and their singleness because they committed to join into a lifelong, exclusive partnership of selfless love with you. You’re about to tell them you’ve put all of that and so much more on the line because someone kept flirting with you at work, or because you didn’t think they listened, or because you felt like they lost their passion in the bedroom.

Here’s how start an addiction: justify any hang-ups you have, do whatever you want to do, keep mistakes in the shade, and depend on your own strength to overcome any odds you face. That’s terrible advice we’ve all followed into a mess of empty addiction at some point in our lives. So how de we get out of the mess? There is always a way out underneath. Here are five keys to fighting your way out of any addiction.

Want to drift from God? Easy. Just neglect time with Him and spend too much time with shady people instead. Maybe you’d rather drift from someone else. Bad marriage advice is too easy. Just enjoy common interests and form an emotional bond with someone other than your spouse. Or perhaps you’re feeling way too grateful for your life. Just resent God’s goodness in everyone else’s life while you ignore His goodness in your own. Not the bad advice you’re looking for? You must be too free. An addiction will cure that. Just do what feels good and never admit you have any problems.

Sometimes when we talk with people who are interested in volunteering at Life.Church Online, we notice something. They tell us that they love our mission, that they’re passionate about sharing God’s love, and that they have a heart to serve…but we can sense that there’s an unanswered question in the back of their minds:

Our mission is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Church Online at Life.Church is a community of people all over the world experiencing God and connecting with one another like never before in history. What does that mean? It means you have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you – just as you are, anywhere in the world.